1986 Ignacio Fleta CD/IN

This 1986 Ignacio Fleta is a classical guitar with a cedar top and Indian rosewood back and sides, made in the Barcelona workshop of Francisco and Gabriel Fleta nearly a decade after their father's death.

A 1986 Fleta e Hijos Classical Guitar

This is a great Fleta from 1986, when Ignacio's sons were running the workshop under the family label. It has a combination of tremendous power, balance, warmth and clarity – everything we look for in a fine instrument from this period.

Sound and Playability

Ignacio was known for his unique approach to guitar making, carrying techniques from his violin and cello training into his guitars, and his sons kept that tradition alive. The sound is haunting, dark and mysterious – a natural fit for contemporary, Spanish or South American repertoire – and the sustain is superb in virtually every register. Playability is easy: a very comfortable neck and an eager response to the right hand.

Condition

Excellent, with only some minor playing wear. A bold and powerful Fleta from a great period, as desirable to the collector as to the performer.

Ignacio Fleta: Master Guitar Maker of Barcelona

For performers and collectors alike, the name Ignacio Fleta (1897–1977) ranks among the elite handful of 20th-century luthiers. Trained in Barcelona as a maker of violins and cellos, he built mainly bowed instruments from the late 1920s until 1955, when he decided to devote himself to the guitar. Countless scores of the finest players in the world have played his instruments – among them Andrés Segovia, John Williams, Angel Romero, Turibio Santos, Alirio Díaz and Marcelo Kayath.

Ignacio Fleta e Hijos: Three Generations

By the mid-1960s Fleta's sons, Francisco (1925–2003) and Gabriel (1929–2013), had become his partners in the workshop – which is why the labels from then on read "Ignacio Fleta e hijos" (Ignacio Fleta and sons). After Ignacio's death in 1977 the brothers carried on, and today Gabriel's son, Gabriel Fleta Jr., continues the family workshop in its third generation. Many dozens of Fletas have passed through our doors over the years.